Calm Before The Storm (ATF)
by Just Kris
Summary: Explosions. Ezra sends Maude away.


Title: Calm Before The Storm (ATF)  
Author: Gold Dust Woman  
Disclaimers: Everyone here except Kris Connolly belongs to the Mirish Group, MGM and  
Trilogy Entertaiment. Kris belongs to me. She's the younger sister of Sarah.  
Rating: PG 13  
Language: A few words are said.  
Note: Many thanks to my magnificent beta reader SuLu for putting up with me and my  
new muse for the last few weeks. Here's hoping I can do justice to it and not make  
any mistakes.  
  
  
Calm Before The Storm (ATF)  
  
  
The summer had been a long and hot one for Chris Larabee, ever since his unexpected reunion with  
his wife's younger sister, Kris Connolly. She had appeared at his ranch at the begining of the season,  
wearing nothing but a torn shirt and jeans.  
  
Her pig-headed brother-in-law, who she had never been close to, got it into his thick skull that an old   
girlfriend of his, Ella Gaines, was somehow responsible for her injuries. Kris always denied this,  
claiming she never heard of the woman.  
  
Kris was in her mid-thirties, with long dark hair that curled at the ends. She looked nothing like  
her late sister. Because of this, she would sometimes catch Chris staring at her. She knew she wasn't the  
prettiest thing around, and she got a funny feeling every time she caught him looking at her, or when she   
came across him unexpectedly.  
  
Her complextion was light and her eyes would change color. She was inexperienced when it came to men   
and matters of the heart. Except for a brief time in her life when she met a certain sharphooter just  
before he became a member of The Magnificent Seven.  
  
  
At first, when Chris and members of his team started to protect her, she didn't mind all the  
attention. But as time wore on it began to get on her nerves. She was only allowed to go out when she  
had two members of the team with her. Since she had no job, some of the team thought this would be an  
easy job to handle.  
  
It was a week before Labor Day when the explosions started in Denver. This was the last thing Kris  
needed, so one night she decided to sneak out of the ranch. Chris was livid when he couldn't find  
her at the ranch. He made a phone call to the sharpshooter who had once known her so well.  
  
  
Vin Tanner went looking for Kris in Purgatory. She was hiding out inside an old movie house.  
  
"Damn you!" she shouted as he grabbed her to stop her from leaving.  
  
"Please, Vin" she begged "don't take me back me back there! I'll do anything you want, just don't  
take me back to that place."  
  
She was shaking and cold, and scared of something. Vin put his arms around her to calm her down.  
  
"Damn!" he thought to himself. "She still feels good."  
  
Kris was calmer and pulled back as she said, "You're gonna take me back there aren't you?"  
  
Vin brushed some of her away from her face and said "Yes."  
  
"Well then, I guess there is only one thing left to do."  
  
"What?"  
  
"This!"  
  
She punched her old flame in the stomach, hard, with her right fist.  
  
With Vin bent over she began to run from the movie house. Just before she got to the doors,  
Buck Wilmington (another agent), who was nearby because of the explosions, grabbed her. She was   
screaming "Let me go!"  
  
Vin came up as Buck was trying to hold Kris.  
  
"Vin?" Buck asked grinning.  
  
"What?"  
  
"You all right?"  
  
"Couldn't be better."  
  
"Buck." Vin said as he finally stood up.  
  
"Yes."  
  
"What the hell are you doing here?"  
  
"There was another explosion nearby. I saw you two come in, then saw her trying to rabbit."  
  
Kris was squirming to get away from Buck.  
  
"The only way to tame this filly is to put the cuffs on her!"  
  
He began to reach for his cuffs when Vin said "Stop. Cuffs won't hold her."  
  
"Really?!" Buck was even more intrigued by the statement.  
  
Buck's cell phone began to ring. It was JD trying to find out where the hell he was.  
  
As Buck was talking to JD, Vin took Kris by her left arm and they left the movie house and  
went to his jeep.  
  
"Get in." he said firmly.  
  
She got in the jeep wondering if he was really mad at for hitting him.  
  
  
The air was so thick in the jeep you could have cut it with a knife. Kris usually didn't  
mind the quiet, but even this was getting to her. She reached over to turn the radio on, but  
  
Vin told her, "Leave it alone!"  
  
She pulled back her hand and started to look out the window. Her right hand now was on the  
door handle and her other hand was on her seat belt. In a few minutes there would a turn on the  
road where Vin would have to slow down. This she thought could be her last chance to escape,  
even if it meant jumping out of a moving vechicle. He glanced over and saw where her hands  
were. He knew right away what she was planning to do so he slammed on the brakes.  
  
"What the hell you trying to do to us? Kill us?" Kris was startled by the sudden stop.  
  
She tried to open the door but Vin grabbed her arm.  
  
"Don't even think it." he said. She was confused.  
  
"You never used to be this way. What the hell happen to ya?"  
  
"What do you mean what happen to me?"  
  
"You know. I blame the cowboy for this. He changed you."  
  
"Don't blame the cow...Chris. We are all just trying to protect you."  
  
"Protect me? From what? He could care less what happens to me. He wishes I was the one who..."  
  
Vin stopped her and said "So that's it. You really believe he wishes it was you that died instead your  
sister. How could you think of such a thing?"  
  
"Because it's the truth. I see it everytime he stares at me."  
  
"Ah, Kris" Vin said as he tried to put his arm around her to comfort her.  
  
She pulled back and said "Don't do that."  
  
"You used to like it."  
  
"I don't anymore. And you don't have to be worried about me liking you anymore either."  
  
"I'm not worried." But he was. Something was different about her.  
  
He turned on the ignition and once again headed for the ranch.  
  
  
When they got there, Larabee was waiting for them on the porch.  
  
Vin stopped the jeep but still had the motor running.  
  
"Would ya look at that." Kris said as she saw her brother-in-law start to walk down the  
porch steps and head for the jeep.  
  
"It's like he thinks he owns me or something."  
  
Chris went to her side of the jeep and opened the door. He reached his left hand to help  
her out.  
  
"It's 'bout time you got here." he said with a snort.  
  
"Yeah. Yeah. Always the uptight cowboy aren't we." she said as she stepped out.  
  
Chris acknowledged a thank you to Vin for brining her back to the ranch safely  
and closed the door. The sharpshooter drove out the driveway and headed for his own home.  
  
  
With Chris pulling on her arm the two of them went inside the front door of his ranch.  
  
Ezra Standish, another member of his team was eating a sandwhich when he heard them come in.  
  
Kris went to the kitchen to get something to eat and said "Ez! You've come to take me away  
from all this!"  
  
Ezra looked at Chris who had a such a look of "don't you get involved with this   
or they'll be hell to pay on him" that he knew he better not get involved.  
  
He took another bite of his sandwhich. "Kris, I'm afraid this one is out of my hands."  
  
She turned to her brother-in-law in disgust and stormed to her room and slammed the door.  
  
She turned the radio on to a classic rock and roll station, as loud as it would go.  
  
Ezra was finshing up his sandwhich when he grinned and said to Chris "At least she likes  
the classics!"  
  
For the first time, Chris cracked a smile. Somehow he could always make him do that.  
  
Chris was getting ticked off by his sister-in-law's behavior and started to her room.  
  
Ezra shook his head and said "Why don't you wait this out Mr. Larabee. It can't last for long."  
  
Chris agreed to waiting it out a little while longer.  
  
  
Meanwhile Kris was turning down the radio so she can make a phone call.  
  
She was calling a hotel manager she knew, where she once stayed, before she ended up  
at the ranch. A woman picked up the phone.  
  
"Hello?"  
  
"Thank god I caught you!"  
  
"Kris?" I can barely hear you. Where are you?"  
  
"I'm at my brother-in-law's ranch."  
  
"You have a brother-in-law? You never told me that."  
  
"Unfortunately I do. He thinks he's protecting me, but he's not. I have got to get out of  
here! He's always staring at me and running around here half naked all the time!"  
  
"You sure you want to leave?"  
  
"Yes!"  
  
"All right, calm down. Tell me where you are and I will come and get you."  
  
Kris gave the address to the woman as she was peeking outside her door to see what her  
brother-in-law was doing. Ezra turned and saw her peeking out the door.   
  
He and Larabee were in living room, trying to get some leads on the bombings. He was  
grinning as Larabee looked up and said "What are you grinning about now?"  
  
"It's Kris" he said. "I wonder who she's talking to on the phone."  
  
"What?!" Chris shouted and headed for Kris's room.  
  
He came in as Kris was hanging up the phone. A shouting match between the two started.  
  
  
As the shouting match between Chris and Kris was going on, and old foe of Ezra's was pulling  
into the driveway. An older blond haired woman got out of her car and closed the door.  
  
She noticed a window was open and heard the loud voices, one of them being Kris's.  
  
Concerned when she Kris's voice, the woman went inside without knocking.   
  
Ezra, who was also getting a little concerned, started for the bedroom. He got a funny feeling  
that there was someone else inside the house. The woman followed the voices to the bedroom and found  
Kris screaming at the top of her lungs "I'm leaving cowboy and there is not a damn thing you can do  
about it!"  
  
"Over my dead body!" Chris stopped when he saw a familiar looking woman standing in the doorway.  
The woman was also surprise to see the cowboy, especially since he was bare chested and bare footed,  
and wearing nothing but a pair of jeans.  
  
  
Kris turned when saw Chris's reaction to the woman and said  
  
"Oh good you're finally here to take me out of this insane asylum!"  
  
The woman took Kris's arm and said "You didn't tell me Chris Larabee was your brother-in-law?"  
  
"Didn't I?"  
  
"No. Are you sure you want to leave?" The woman took a peek at Chris who was ticked off by her  
presence.  
  
"Yes! He driving me crazy! And his friends aren't much better. Here's one of the now!."  
  
The woman turned and said "Darlin' boy! What a surprise!" and kissed the astonished southerner  
on his cheek.  
  
"Mother. What are you doing here?"  
  
"Mother?" Kris asked. "So you weren't raised by wolves."  
  
Ezra grinned and looked over at Chris who was red in the face.  
  
Chris snarled, "There is some question whether or not he was raised by wolves. What  
are you doing here Maude?"  
  
"She's here to take me away from this hell hole!" Kris took her small bag of the bed and started  
to leave the room.  
  
Chris blocked the doorway to prevent her from leaving. He suddenly had an overwhelming feeling that   
if she left now he would never see her again.  
  
"Get the hell out my way!" she shouted.  
  
"I've told you over and over, you're never gonna leave here!"  
  
"Cowboy" she said quietly. "Don't make me hurt you."  
  
"You hurt me? You can't hurt me!"  
  
Ezra jumped in and said "Mr. Larabee may I make a suggestion?"  
  
"And that's another thing." Kris said to Maude.  
  
"He's always calling the cowboy 'Mr. Larabee.' Just once I would to hear your son call him  
by his first name!"  
  
Maude nodded in agreement and spoke to camly to Larabee, "You have to let us go. Kris will  
be fine with me."  
  
(While Maude was making that statement, a couple of bumbling crooks were planting a bomb in the  
door of her private entrance to the hotel. Maude required that the hotel have a 1870's feel to it  
after she won it months ago in a poker game. The then owner was so angered at how she got his  
hotel away from him that he vowed vengenced. He hired a couple of idiots to plant the bomb. Of  
course he had no idea that they would start planting bombs all over Denver.)  
  
"Fine? Mother. No one is fine with you!"  
  
"Oh Ezra." Maude said with a fake tear. "How could you say such a horrible thing?" and pushed  
the cowboy aside. Kris looked at Chris and Ezra in disgust and said to them "Till we meet  
in hell."  
  
Maude and Kris left the house and headed for Maude's car. Kris put her small bag in the back  
seat, looked at the house and saw Chris and Ezra standing on the front porch. Ezra was trying  
to stop Chris from going over to them. Maude got in the drivers seat, put on her belt and started  
the ignition. Kris went to the passengers side, got in and closed the door. She was putting on her  
belt when she said to Maude "Let's get the hell out of here."  
  
As Maude drove out of the driveway Ezra said "Chris."  
  
"Your mother..."  
  
"I know Chris. I know. I guess I should follow them."  
  
"You do that Standish."  
  
  
Chris watched him drive off, then turned and went back in the house. It been a long and and tiring day  
for the special agent. He went to his bedroom to try to get some sleep. 20 minutes later the phone was ringing.  
  
For some reason he did not want to pick it up. The moon was full and was shining through one of the  
bedroom windows. It shone right on Sarah's picture on his dresser across from the bed. It was like the  
picture was talking to him. "Pick up the phone." It kept saying.  
  
Finally, after the seventh ring, he picked up the phone.  
  
"Hello?"  
  
"Mr. Larabee? Mr. Chris Larabee?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
It was a nurse from the hospital telling him that his sister-in-law, Ezra Standish and Maude were in some  
sort of an accident. He put down the receiver and looked at wife's picture. He knew what she wanted him to do.  
  
He put on a shirt and a pair of sneakers, went over to the dresser and picked up his wife's picture and sighed.  
  
He put it back down, got his keys and went down the hallway that seemed to go on forever. He opened the front  
door, went outside and looked up. The sky was clear as could be with the stars shining all around the full moon.  
He got into his car and headed for the hospital.  
  
  
He picked up the car phone to call Vin who had been having trouble sleeping.   
  
Vin picked up the phone on a nightstand next to his bed and said "Hello?" "Hello?"  
  
Chris didn't say anything for a moment.   
  
"Vin it's me."  
  
"Chris? What is it?"  
  
He knew by the sound of his friend's voice that something terrible had just happen. Chris told him about the  
so called accident. Vin put down his phone in disbelief and rubbed his eyes.  
  
"No," he said to himself, "they're alright."  
  
He got up from his bed and got dressed. He got the keys to his jeep and went out the door and to the  
hospital. When he arrived at the hospital he saw JD and Buck entering. He parked his jeep and sat inside for a   
moment. He then saw Larabee coming into the hospital parking lot and turned off his car. He too just sat there in  
silence. They got out of their vehicles at the same time and headed for the ER. Josiah and Nathan were already there.  
  
Maude was lying down in one of the rooms but conscious enough to answer Josiah's questions. She coughed a couple  
of times and told what happen. As she put the key in the door to her private entrance, Ezra had noticed a trip wire.  
He pulled them away, just as the door exploded outword. She, Ezra and Kris were thrown in different directions.  
Her injuries were not severe. She asked about her son who was in another room. Ezra was to going to be fine. He only   
had a few bruises on him.  
  
He was asleep when JD, Buck and Nathan came in to check on their friend. While waiting for him to wake up, Buck  
started reading the newspaper. JD turned on the tv. Nathan was sitting at the left side of the bed, watching his teammates   
do what they did best in situations like these.  
  
Chris and Vin were in Kris's room. Though she had been thrown clear, her injuries weren't as bad as the doctor's  
once thought. But for some reason she wasn't waking up. It was like she didn't want to be awake.  
  
Vin, who couldn't stay in her room any longer, got up and went to Ezra's. Josiah came in after him and took a look  
around the room. They both chuckled in silence. Ezra was begining to wake up. When he finally woke up he looked around  
the room and took a look at what his teammates were doing.  
  
Ezra said "Nice to realize you're so concerned with my well being that you can't take your eyes off me."  
  
Vin said back to his friend "Glad to see you to pard!"  
  
Buck laughing said "We're all glad to see Ezra came back from the dead!"  
  
JD asked him "What the hell happen?"  
  
"You tell me. The last thing I remember is mother..."  
  
"Mother."  
  
"She's alright." Josiah said.  
  
"Figures. And Kris?"  
  
"We don't know." Nathan said. He paused.  
  
"What is it Mr. Jackson? What aren't you telling me?"  
  
"She should've been awake by now. But it's like she doesn't want to be awake."  
  
"What?" JD asked, confused.  
  
A nurse came into the room and told them they had to leave. When they all left, Ezra made a phone call to a man  
that Maude had once known. He hung up the phone with a big grin on his face.  
  
  
In Kris's room Chris was sitting in a chair at the right side of the bed. Maude was coming in as Chris was brushing  
her hair away from her face. He looked up and saw Maude standing next to him.  
  
She said to him "You blame me for this don't you Mr. Larabee."  
  
"Yes, If it wasn't for you..." Then said "Aw Maude you have enemies. You should've seen this one coming."  
  
"So do you. I mean, could you have seen it coming?"  
  
Chris didn't answer her. He took another look at his sister-in-law who was still lying in the hospital bed  
motionless.  
  
"Maude." Chris said.  
  
"Yes."  
  
"What, if anything, do you know about Kris's past?"  
  
"I know some of it."  
  
"You're not going to tell me anything are you?"  
  
"Now is not the right time Mr. Larabee."  
  
Vin, Josiah, Buck, JD and Nathan came into Kris's room. JD went over to the window looked out said  
  
"Hey guys! take a look at this!"  
  
A helicopter was landing on the hospital roof. The man from Maude's past climbed out carrying  
a bunch of flowers. Buck, grinning, had recognized the man carrying the flowers. He looked at Maude,  
who looked at him as if something was going to happen. Scared she headed for the door.  
  
The man who was carrying the flowers, was yelling down the hospital corridor "Maude! Maude Standish!"  
  
Ezra came in the nick of time as Maude was making a hasty exit.  
  
"Ezra." she said. "What have you done?"  
  
"Why mother, what do you mean?"  
  
The man was still shouting "Maude! Maudie Standish!"  
  
"I know that voice!" Maude shouted to her son.  
  
"I believe you do mother." he said with a smile.  
  
The man finally saw Maude and Ezra outside Kris's room.  
  
Maude shouted to him, "Preston Wingo you corpulent cockroach! What the hell are you doing here?!"  
  
"Oh Maudie, my beloved, I came to take you away!" and handed her the flowers he was holding.  
  
"I'm not going anywhere with you, weasel!"  
  
"Now mother, it's for your own good."  
  
Josiah came by to see what was going on.  
  
"Is there a problem here?"  
  
"No problem Mr. Sanchez. No problem at all."  
  
"What do you mean there is no problem! You ungrateful son of mine!"  
  
"Now mother, this is for your own good."  
  
Just then two big Hawaiian body guards that worked for Wingo came up to him.  
  
Maude got a frightened look on her face and said to her son, "I'll get you for this!"  
  
"No mother I don't think you will!"  
  
The two bodyguards took a hold of Maude and they left with Preston Wingo back to his  
helicopter. Maude looked back at her son when he said "So long mother! I don't want to see  
you until the next millennium!"  
  
Maude went inside the chopper kicking and screaming.  
  
"Oh Maudie" he said, "I've been waiting for this!"  
  
The chopper took off and went to the airport. The passengers on the chopper got out of it  
and went to a private plane that Wingo owned.  
  
Maude was impressed by what she saw. She said to Preston, "This is all yours?"  
  
"All mine Maudie."  
  
The plane started down the runway.  
  
"Just where are you taking me?" Maude asked.  
  
"To an island I own."  
  
"You own an island?"  
  
Maude took one last look outside the passengers window. "I'm gonna get that ungrateful son of my mine  
if it's the last thing I do." she muttered. The plane landed on Wingo's private Hawaiian island, where the  
two lived in harmony for the rest of their lives.  
  
  
Meanwhile, back in Kris's room she had seven men around her bed. The light from the moon was shining in.  
Vin, sitting in a chair at the left side of her bed, noticed her fingers were wiggling. She was finally   
waking up. Nathan, Josiah, Buck and JD left the room and went to their homes.  
  
  
"Chris." said Ezra who was standing next to him.  
  
"Yes Mr. Standish."  
  
"It's been quite a summer hasn't?"  
  
"Yes Mr. Standish it has."  
  
Ezra was going to leave when Kris said "Wait!"  
  
He took her right hand and said "Shh my dear don't fret. Everthing will be alright now that  
you have awakened."   
  
"Ez, you finally called the cowboy by his first name!"  
  
"Yes, I believe I did." He kissed the top of her right hand and went to his own hospital room  
got into bed and fell asleep.  
  
Vin, realizing Kris was going to be alright, squeezed her left hand got up and left the room.  
Tired by the day's events he went home and went to bed.  
  
Chris and Kris were alone in her hospital room. Chris said "Kris."  
  
"What now cowboy? I've had a long day."  
  
He smiled and asked her "Are you ever gonna to stop calling me cowboy?"  
  
"Probably not."  
  
  
  
On Labor Day, Team Seven caught the bombers. Genuses the weren't. They made a deal and turned on the  
man who hired them. The man was arrested, tried and convicted and vowed in court to get Maude Standish.  
This however was fruitless since Maude was living on an Hawaiian island in blistful harmony, thanks to the  
ungreatful son she gave birth to.  
  
Chris wanted Kris to stay on at the ranch indifinately. She was his last link to Sarah.  
She agreed to this only if he would go by a few ground rules she set. He must stop staring at her,  
he had to put on a shirt on every once in a while and the foremost ground rule was that he had to  
let her lead her own life, whatever it was.  
  
THE END.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  



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